Aren't all Fabrics Safe?
Aren't all fabrics safe? In a word: no. The textile industry uses chemicals to turn coarse fibers into the well behaving fabrics we demand. In textile manufacturing, fibers are washed, sized, de-sized, bleached, dyed, treated with detergents, optical brighteners, biocides, wetting agents, lubricants, sequestering agents, stabilizers, emulsifiers, complexing agents, and more.
Fabric is often impregnated with liquid plastic, which carries the finishes we demand. And, please note, no producer or seller of fabric is required to divulge anything about any finish used at any stage of textile production (except the use of flame retardants in upholstery in the State of California). Usually the producers use them and the sellers know nothing of the chemicals used.
A research study of October 2023 published on Science Direct (Footnote 1) reports that, of the over 15,000 chemicals used in textile manufacturing (their estimate), a material number of these chemicals are known to bioaccumulate, persist in our environment, and are associated with a host of human health issues, such as infertility, autoimmune diseases, cancers, nervous system disorders, and many others. Footnote 2
The Global Organic Textile Standard, GOTS, prohibits or limits 24 whole classes of chemicals toxic to humans and animal life. American consumers have become familiar with two classes: flame retardants, and, more recently, PFAs, or forever chemicals. But there are 22 other CLASSES of chemicals prohibited by GOTS.
It is exceedingly difficult to declare an accurate number for these individual chemicals (CAS numbers) either used in textile manufacturing or; of those, the number that are known to be toxic. In one chemical class alone that is prohibited by GOTS, the PFAs (forever chemicals), there are now estimated to be over 15,000 member chemicals. And this number is increasing because new cousins of synthetic chemicals are created continually. Suffice to say that there are a lot of them.
Should we be concerned?
Yes, because: 1. A significant amount of the chemicals remain in the fabric; and, 2. Those residual chemicals are “chemicals of concern."
When we say, a “significant amount” remain in the fabric: The German EPA prompted two German scientists to write a book about chemicals used in textile production. They analyzed a piece of cotton fabric. That fabric, advertised as being made from 100% cotton, actually consisted of 73% cotton fibers and 27% "other" materials, BY WEIGHT. Those other materials are:
- 2% polyacrylamide
- 8% dyestuff
- 14% urea formaldehyde resin
- 3% softening agents
- 0.3% optical brighteners
These chemicals, which remain in the fabric, are absorbed by our bodies. Some chemicals evaporate into the air; some absorb through our skin. Another way our bodies absorb these chemicals is over time. Microscopic particles are abraded and fall into the dust in our homes, where we can breathe them in or ingest them.
People often know that dyes can be toxic, but fully 14 %, or almost twice by weight, of the material in the cotton fabrics is a liquid plastic, urea formaldehyde resin.
In our list above, Urea formaldehyde resin is not something you want in the fabric in your home. It continually releases formaldehyde.
Formaldehyde is a listed human carcinogen. Besides being associated with “lesser” problems such as watery eyes, nausea, difficulty in breathing, coughing, some pulmonary edema (fluid in the lungs), asthma attacks, chest tightness, headaches, and general fatigue; formaldehyde is associated with more severe health issues in addition to cancer.
For example, it could cause nervous system damage by its known ability to react with and form cross-linking with proteins, DNA and unsaturated fatty acids. These same mechanisms could cause damage to virtually any cell in the body, since all cells contain these substances. Formaldehyde can react with the nerve protein (neuroamines) and nerve transmitters (e.g., catecholamines), which could impair normal nervous system function and cause endocrine disruption. For more details on formaldehyde, please see our 2011 blog post, sadly still relevant: https://oecotextiles.blog/2011/01/04/formaldehyde-in-your-fabrics/
They don’t say exactly what the softener is. There are perfectly safe softeners and there are extremely toxic surfactants, given an “F” by the Environmental Working Group. Same with the dyestuff and the optical brightener.
We talk more about “chemicals of concern” later in our LEARN articles.
The fabrics we live with contain chemicals that have been proved to affect us in many ways, from subtle to profound: in terms of infertility, asthma, nervous disorders (ranging from depression and anxiety to brain tumors), immune system suppression, and genetic alteration. And the industry pollutes our groundwater by dumping untreated effluent into our waterways, where it circulates the globe.
It stands to reason why we'd want safe fabrics, right?
Footnote 1:
Science Direct: “Implications of circular textile policies for the future regulation of hazardous substances in textiles in the European Union,” by Agathe Burr, et. al., Science of the Total Environment, Vol 896, 20 October 2023, 165153.
Footnote 2: IBID.
